Beacon Journal
7/28
Morgan, Johnson impress coaches in Las Vegas
By Darnell Mayberry
Beacon Journal sports writer
LAS VEGAS - The flight attendant stops at row nine. The exit row. He wants to make sure the passenger in seat D is at least 16.
Raymar Morgan looks up with his baby face. His shoulder-length cornrows covered by a black doo-rag and all-black Indians cap, Morgan nods.
He barely meets the regulation. Yet this 6-foot-8 inch, 210-pound athlete with a finely chiseled physique is one of the best high school basketball players in the country.
He sits next to his mother, Carole, and relaxes by listening to music with a set of headphones.
Nine rows back on the America West flight, Marcus Johnson is asleep. Morgan's good friend and teammate on the King James Shooting Stars is taking perhaps the most important flight of his life.
The two Akron-Canton-area stars are headed to Las Vegas, where Morgan, a senior at Canton McKinley, and Johnson, a senior at St. Vincent-St. Mary, will join thousands of the country's best high school basketball players.
They're gathering to chase their dreams of college basketball, and perhaps a professional career beyond.
But first there is Vegas, and the crucial hours of basketball that could attract the attention of that key college coach.
Morgan, Johnson and their teammates on the King James Shooting Stars, an AAU traveling team made up of area players and sponsored in part by LeBron James, are competing in a five-day basketball tournament called Main Event.
Nearly every college basketball coach in the country will be there.
Summer basketball tournaments, most sponsored by shoe companies, have become the proving grounds.
Playing to compete
Many of the nation's top coaches are sold on Morgan, who this past season led Canton McKinley to the Division I state championship in Ohio.
Morgan already has them giddy over his playing ability. Coaches from Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State and Connecticut have offered to fully fund his college education. He doesn't have to worry about impressing in Vegas or showing that he can compete against the nation's best players. He traveled to compete and have fun.
Morgan has the height of an NBA power forward, let alone a 16-year-old high school player.
But that's not all. Morgan is versatile. He shoots. He passes. He rebounds. He posts up. He even plays point guard at times.
Like many high school players, his 3-point shot needs improvement.
His AAU coach, Percy Robinson, says there is almost nothing Morgan can't do. If his team desperately needs a basket, Morgan comes through.
College coaches are amazed with Morgan's post moves and his ability to slash to the basket. They love his rebounding.
This mild-mannered, laid-back kid is approaching the Vegas tournament with the calm of an athlete who knows he has it made.
``They're going out to get whoever they feel is going to fit their team,'' Morgan said of college coaches. ``If you don't hurry up and make your decision, they might leave you behind.''
No one's leaving Morgan behind. And he knows it. He isn't going to make a decision until he's ready, which might not be until the early signing period begins in November. He didn't have to come to Las Vegas at all, and the offers would have still been there. But Morgan's a player and wants to compete.
``I'm just like everybody else; that's how I look at it,'' Morgan said. ``I've got a gift to play basketball, so I do.''
Not the same demand
Johnson has no such comfort zone. The demand for him isn't at the same level as it is for Morgan. Johnson, a 6-foot-2 senior guard, has naysayers.
Too short to be a shooting guard, they say. Doesn't dribble well enough to be a point guard. Doesn't have a consistent outside shot.
The University of Dayton has shown the most interest in Johnson, with Memphis, Xavier, Pittsburgh, St. Bonaventure, Akron and Kent State also looking at him.
``Right now, I truly think that I'm being under-recruited,'' Johnson said. ``It just makes me go out there and play harder and prove coaches wrong.''
Johnson is a phenomenal athlete who averaged 23.5 points and 7.3 rebounds this past season for the Irish. He's a slasher, relentless at attacking the basket. He soars above the rim for rebounds and dunks.
``Sometimes he jumps so high it scares me,'' said Dru Joyce, executive director of the Northeast Ohio Basketball Association, which founded the Shooting Stars.
So what separates Morgan from Johnson? Why isn't Johnson also heavily sought after?
The answer -- about six inches.
You don't find players every day who are 6-8 and can play on the wing. There are gymnasiums full of 6-2 shooting guards.
``Marcus is skilled and better than a lot of guys, but with him being 6-2 and more of a scoring guard than a point guard, coaches are a little leery,'' said Joyce, who also coaches Johnson at St. Vincent-St. Mary.
Exposure key for all
It's Friday afternoon and Morgan, Johnson and the rest of the King James Shooting Stars are in Durango High School's main gymnasium, preparing for their first tournament game in Vegas.
Tom Izzo, the coach at Michigan State is here. Michigan's Tommy Amaker, Ohio State's Thad Matta, University of Connecticut's Jim Calhoun and Dayton's Brian Gregoryaren't far behind.
NCAA rules prohibit college coaches from speaking to players or their coaches while at these tournaments. Their mission, however, is to be seen. And players take notice.
Izzo, sporting Michigan State apparel, stands on the sideline while the team warms up. The players all know who he is and why he's here.
The teams take the floor. Morgan, calm as ever, wins the jump ball. He is playing for fun.
Johnson scores within the first three minutes. He is playing for his future.
Epilogue
Morgan and Johnson score 18 apiece, putting on a good show for the coaches and getting revenge against a team from Houston, which they lost to over the summer last year.
Johnson bruised his shoulder, and that affected him the rest of the weekend.
They led the Shooting Stars to the final four of the Main Event before losing to the eventual champion Friends of Hoop out of Seattle.
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Messages for Darnell Mayberry can be left at 330-996-3800 or
[email protected]
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